OAKLAND — The BART strike has moved into its third day after the transit agency and its unions failed to reach an agreement overnight during the first round of negotiations since the shutdown began, though they returned to the bargaining table Wednesday afternoon.

“We will back at the table to work hard to get a contract so we can get the passengers back on the trains and the system moving,” Antonette Bryant, president of the local Amalgamated Transit Union, said Wednesday morning. “We’re in this situation; we’re doing the best we can. We’re going to get out of it, and we’re going to get out of it with a good contract.”

BART said Wednesday for the first time that it would take another 18 hours to get the trains up and running should a settlement be reached to end the strike.

BART plans to run a “very limited” version of its charter bus service from the East Bay to San Francisco on Thursday compared to earlier in the week, and will restore slightly more buses Friday. Most Bay Area transit agencies are running reduced service for the Fourth of July holiday.

In a new development, the BART Board of Directors placed on its meeting agenda for as soon as Thursday morning items that call for the agency to impose new “terms and conditions of employment” on the unions. The board had scheduled potential meetings twice a day for the next week in case a deal needs to be ratified on short notice, though the agenda was updated Wednesday to include the items that would force working conditions on the unions.

The board used the same strategy during its last round of labor talks, voting unanimously to impose working conditions on its unions in 2009. At the time, the workers responded initially by threatening to strike, but quickly reached a settlement without walking off the job.

BART spokesman Rick Rice called the updated agenda a “routine” change and said the meetings would only happen if the board sees fit.

“We have to be prepared for all possibilities,” Rice said, noting the state’s requirements to post meeting agendas at least 24 hours in advance.

After a 36-hour break since their contracts expired, the ATU and the local Service Employees International Union joined BART management and new state mediators for nine hours, through 3 a.m. Wednesday. The talks, being held at a neutral office building in Oakland, resumed after 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

It was unclear whether any significant progress had been made or new proposals were offered, however, as new top mediators brought in Tuesday by Gov. Jerry Brown ordered both sides to keep the talks confidential as they continue to fight over pay and benefits.

The mediators, who aided in keeping both sides overnight for the first time since talks began three months ago, have helped quiet both sides after they had routinely blasted one another in public for weeks. Anita Martinez, chair of the Public Employment Relations Board, and Loretta van der Pol, chief of the State Mediation and Conciliation Service, took over for two lower-ranked mediators that had been assisting the last two weeks.

SEIU officials echoed Bryant’s statements that union officials were continuing to work to reach a deal but they declined to provide specific updates. Rice said it was a positive sign that the meeting lasted so long but did not say whether any new progress or proposals were made.

Getting around

The lack of a deal means the 200,000 people who ride BART daily face a third consecutive day of frustration as train stations sit empty and workers deal with crowded buses, trains and freeways around the Bay Area.

Many Bay Area residents are dreading the impact on the holiday weekend and planning to stay closer to home than usual.

“There’s no way we’re going to go out; it’s going to be crazy,” said Oakland resident Luis Landero, exhausted after meandering around the region by bus and carpool from his home in Oakland to his job in San Francisco. He planned to celebrate Independence Day with friends he could reach by foot.

BART trains carried more than 182,000 one-way trips on last year’s July 4 holiday, about half the load of a typical weekday, including many revelers drawn to San Francisco’s nighttime fireworks and events throughout the day. But this year, many are avoiding a visit to the city, which this weekend kicks off a summer of sailing on the bay for the America’s Cup regatta.

Others were still battling the commute challenges. Many commuters riding the San Francisco Ferry to and from Oakland Wednesday required a second form of transit to get to work, and it took a while to haul a trove of bicycles on and off the ferry during rush hour.

“We’re mostly staying on schedule, but it adds an extra five minutes each way. It adds up,” said Jerry Galvan, a guard from Pier 39 who stepped in to help with the increased ferry traffic. On Tuesday, San Francisco Bay Ferry carried nearly 20,000 one-way trips, triple their normal daily load of 5,800.

For drivers struck in traffic, carpools and the FasTrak lanes on Bay Area bridges continue to be a popular alternative. On Wednesday, officials at the Bay Area Toll Authority said drivers bought 2,073 new FasTrak transponders on Sunday and Monday, up 60 percent from the same two-day stretch a week before, when there were 1,294 orders. As the week wore on, the California Highway Patrol reported increasing backups in the FasTrak lanes at the Bay Bridge toll plaza.

Though many commuters will get a break the next few days, some of them continue to be frustrated.

“Jobs are hard to come by right now. They should be thankful they have a job,” said David Hogue, a 50-year-old veteran from San Mateo. He usually takes BART for part of his commute to Stockton but hasn’t been sleeping much due to the time added to his daily trips.

Compounding the challenges to businesses along the San Francisco waterfront, increased traffic slowed the normal flow of deliveries, crippling vendors already rushing to compensate for the unexpected surge in business — and the cranky commuters.

“Angry commuters are taking their frustrations out on the service people,” Chanda Briggs said as she made a latte at the San Francisco Ferry Building, not long before an Oakland-bound traveler approached her and began complaining about ferry delays. “I guess we’re just the most immediate targets.”

Briggs, a West Oakland resident and manager of Frog Hollow Farms in the San Francisco Ferry Building, said she has had to come in on her days off because some employees haven’t been able to make it in during the strike.

“They’re holding the public hostage,” Briggs said. “We’re the ones that suffer.”

Meanwhile, AC Transit continued to make progress in talks with its unionized bus drivers who have been working without a contract since late Sunday. Its buses continue to roll despite a previous threat from workers to strike.

Opposing offers

In the BART negotiations, the new state mediators have asked both sides to keep their latest proposals confidential starting Wednesday. But previously, BART offered 8 percent salary increases over four years, double its original offer, while unions countered with 20.1 percent pay raises over three years, down from their prior proposal of 23.2 percent.

BART employees, who currently do not contribute to their pensions, had offered to start paying 0.5 percent toward their retirement, but management wanted the employee share to rise steadily, reaching 6 percent after four years. Both sides are also arguing over how much employees should pay toward their health care; currently, all workers pay a flat $92 each month for medical benefits.

Late Tuesday, BART and the union that represents 200 supervisors and professional workers reached a tentative agreement. If approved by workers, members of the local American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees would go back to work immediately, though the return of train service is still dependent on BART reaching a deal with the two larger unions that represent 2,300 line-level workers.

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